452 Mr. 0. Tliomas on the small Hamsters 



XLIV. — On the small Hamsters that have been referred 

 to Cricetulus phseus and campbelli. By Olufield 

 Thomas. 



(Published by permission of tbe Trustees of the British Museum.) 



The small unstriped Hamsters with naked soles, which 

 occur over an area ranging from the Crimea, Asia Minor, 

 and Palestine on the west to tlie Altai, Kashghar, and 

 Ladak on the east, have all been either referred to one 

 species, csHleA. phceus, or occasionally split up into several on 

 size, a character that proves most illusory. Both their 

 nomenclature and characters still remain in much confusion. 



Firstly, I regret to say that the name phaus does not 

 stand for any of them, as it is antedated by an earlier term. 



In \77d>* Pallas described, of this group, the species 

 migratoi'ius (type-locality : E. Ural, S.W. of Orenburg), 

 sungurus-\ (R. Irtish, Siberia), arenarius (Irtish), and 

 baralensis (Irtish), the first and fourth of which he changed 

 in the 'Glires^ J to accedula &\\difuruncidus, while he added to 

 tliem phams (type-locality: Lower Volga, near Sarepta). 

 By a curious fatality, not unusual in nomenclature, this 

 name, the latest of all, got complete dominance over the 

 others, and has been universally used to the present time. 

 No doubt the wide utilization of Pallas's well-known ' Glires' 

 was the cause of the mistakes involved. 



Putting aside sungorus and barabensis (fwuncuhis) as not 

 of the " ph(sus " group, we may first accept without hesi- 

 tation Dr. Satunin^s opinion § that accedula (i. e. migra- 

 torhis) is the same as phteus, both being from the same 

 region of Southern Kussia. This acceptance, however, 

 involves the use of the senior name, migratorius, and the 

 consequent disappearance of j!;A«M5. Dr. Satunin also 

 considers orenarius, from the Irtish, as the same species. 



On laying out the whole Museum series assigned to 

 "■ phauSy' rather more than 80 in number, I find that while 

 the Central Asiatic forms are, as a general rule, larger, with 

 larger teeth and longer hair than those from the west, yet 

 that both skull and teeth vary in series of each form to such 

 au extent as to overlap each other. I therefore provisionally 



* Eeise, ii. pp. 703-704 (1773). 



t Sunfforus cannot be treated as a misprint for sovf/arvs, as has 

 commonly been done, for it not only occurs both in text and plate, but is 

 also used in the same form for another animal on p. 730. 



X p. 86 (1779). 



§ Mittheil. Kaukas. Mus. ii. p. 340 (1906). 



